In-cell touch display device

ABSTRACT

A touch display device capable of reducing the width of a bezel area and achieving a slim device while arranging touch type button keys in the bezel area. The touch display device may be an in-cell touch display device that include at least one touch electrode located on a cover glass, corresponding to one or more touch key areas separated at intervals in a bezel area, extended to a display area and overlapping with a common electrode neighboring the touch key area from among the plurality of common electrodes. Accordingly, when a touch key area is touched, the voltage of a common electrode overlapping the touch electrode changes to sense whether the touch key area is touched, and thus there may not be a need to provide an additional touch panel and an additional touch driving circuit to the bezel area.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2015-0138060, filed on Sep. 30, 2015, which is hereby incorporated byreference as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND

Field

The present disclosure relates to a touch sensitive display device forsensing touch using a common electrode of a display panel.

Discussion of the Related Art

With the advent of the information age, display technology for visuallydisplaying electrical information signals is under rapid development.Accordingly, efforts to decrease the volume, weight and powerconsumption of flat display devices have been made.

Typical examples of such flat display devices may include a liquidcrystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), a field emissiondisplay (FED), an electroluminescence display (ELD), an electrowettingdisplay (EWD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display and thelike.

In display devices, such as mobile devices and TVs, constructed usingsuch flat display devices, an input interface for selecting an object ora region displayed on a display screen may be implemented in a touchmanner. To this end, a display device may have a structure in which aseparate touch panel is attached to a display panel, a structure inwhich separate touch electrodes are disposed within the display panel ora structure in which one component of the display panel is used as atouch electrode (in-cell touch).

A flat display device includes a display area in which images aredisplayed and a bezel area surrounding the display area. The flatdisplay device generally includes button keys located in the bezel area.The button keys are used to receive device control input of a user.

Such button keys are implemented in a clicking manner that respond tophysical pressure. In this case, there is a limit to how much the widthof the bezel area can be decreased and thus it is difficult to achieve aslim device.

Alternatively, button keys are implemented in a touch manner using aseparate touch panel provided to the bezel area and a touch drivingcircuit for driving the touch panel. Even in this case, there is a limitto how much the width of the bezel area can be decreased and thus it isdifficult to achieve a slim device.

Alternatively, part of the display area may be designated as button keysfor receiving device control input of the user. In this case, however,the width of an effective area for actually displaying images in thedisplay area is reduced and usefulness of the bezel area decreases.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure is to provide an in-cell touchdisplay device capable of reducing the width of a bezel area andachieving a slim device while arranging touch type button keys in thebezel area.

To accomplish the object, an embodiment the present disclosure providesan in-cell touch display device including at least one touch electrodelocated on a cover glass, corresponding to one or more touch key areasseparated at intervals in a bezel area, extended to a display area andoverlapping with a common electrode neighboring the touch key area fromamong the plurality of common electrodes.

Specifically, the present disclosure provides an in-cell touch displaydevice including: a display panel including first and second substratesattached to each other and opposite each other, gate lines and datalines located on the first substrate and intersecting to define aplurality of pixel regions in a display area, a plurality of commonelectrodes each corresponding to two or more neighboring pixel regions,and a plurality of sensing lines connected to the common electrodes; acover glass located on the display panel; and at least one touchelectrode located on the cover glass, corresponding to one or more touchkey areas separated at intervals in a bezel area surrounding the displayarea, extended to the display area and overlapping with a commonelectrode neighboring the touch key area from among the plurality ofcommon electrodes.

The in-cell touch display device according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure includes at least one touch electrode correspondingto at least one touch key area located in the bezel area. Each touchelectrode is extended to the display area and overlaps a commonelectrode neighboring the bezel area from among the plurality of commonelectrodes located in the display area.

Accordingly, when the touch key area is touched, the voltage of thecommon electrode overlapping with the touch electrode changes to sensewhether the touch key area is touched.

As described above, the bezel area does not include an additional touchpanel and an additional touch driving circuit for the touch key areaalthough the touch key area is located in the bezel area. Accordingly,the width of the bezel area can be decreased and a slim display devicecan be achieved.

In one embodiment, a touch display device is disclosed. The touchdisplay device comprises a display panel having a plurality of commonelectrodes connected to sensing lines and provided with a common voltagevia the sensing lines. Each common electrode corresponds to a respectiveplurality of pixel regions in a display area. The touch display devicealso comprises a touch electrode corresponding to a touch key area in abezel area surrounding the display area. The touch electrode extendsinto the display area and overlaps with a common electrode of the commonelectrodes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an in-cell touch device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I′ of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing part of a first substrate of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4a is a diagram illustrating a case in which touch is not appliedto part of a display area of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4b is a diagram illustrating a case in which touch is applied topart of the display area of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5a is a diagram illustrating a case in which touch is not appliedto a touch key area in a bezel area of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5b is a diagram illustrating a case in which touch is applied tothe touch key area in the bezel area of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II′ of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 7a and 7b are cross-sectional views showing an in-cell touchdisplay device according to a first example of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 8a and 8b are cross-sectional views showing an in-cell touchdisplay device according to a second example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing an in-cell touch display deviceaccording to a third example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing an in-cell touch displaydevice according to a fourth example of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the specification, it will be understood that, when an element isreferred to as being “on” another element, it can be directly on theother element or intervening elements may be present therebetween.

Furthermore, the use of the ordinal numbers “first”, “second”, “third”,etc., to describe an element merely indicates that different instancesof like elements are being referred to, and are not intended to implythat the elements so described must be in a given sequence.

An in-cell touch display device according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described in detail with reference to theattached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an in-cell touch device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional viewtaken along line I-I′ of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing partof a first substrate of FIG. 2. FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a casein which touch is not applied to part of a display area of FIG. 2 andFIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a case in which touch is applied topart of the display area of FIG. 2. FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating acase in which touch is not applied to a touch key region in a bezel areaof FIG. 2 and FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a case in which touch isapplied to the touch key region in the bezel area of FIG. 2. FIG. 6 is across-sectional view taken along line II-II′ of FIG. 1 and FIGS. 7A and7B are cross-sectional views showing an in-cell touch display deviceaccording to a first example of the present disclosure. FIGS. 8A and 8Bare cross-sectional views showing an in-cell touch display deviceaccording to a second example of the present disclosure. FIG. 9 is across-sectional view showing an in-cell touch display device accordingto a third example of the present disclosure and FIG. 10 is across-sectional view showing an in-cell touch display device accordingto a fourth example of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, an in-cell touch display device 100 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure includes a display area AAcorresponding to a display plane in which images are displayed and abezel area BA surrounding the display area AA. In addition, the in-celltouch display device 100 includes one or more touch key areas TAseparated at intervals and located in the bezel area BA.

When the in-cell touch display device 100 is applied to cellular phones,the in-cell touch display device 100 further includes a speaker areaSPEAKER, a label area LABEL and a camera area CAMERA, which are locatedin the bezel area, separated at intervals and separated from the atleast one touch key area TA.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the speaker area SPEAKER, the label area LABELand the camera area CAMERA may be provided in a part of the bezel areaBA, which corresponds to the upper end of the display area AA, and theat least one touch key area TA may be provided in a part of the bezelarea BA, which corresponds to the lower end of the display area AA. Theat least one touch key area TA may be further provided in parts of thedisplay area AA, which correspond to at least one of the left and rightends of the display area AA.

Referring to FIG. 2, the in-cell touch display device 100 includes adisplay panel 101, a cover glass 102 disposed on the display panel 101and a touch electrode TE corresponding to the touch key area TA andlocated on the cover glass 102. In addition, the in-cell touch displaydevice 100 may further include an adhesive layer 103 bonding the displaypanel 101 to the cover glass 102.

The display panel 101 includes a pair of substrates 110 and 120 attachedto each other and a light-emitting material or a polarizing materialinterposed between the substrates 110 and 120.

The display panel 101 may be a liquid crystal display panel includingthe first substrate 110 including a plurality of thin film transistors,the second substrate 120 including a color filter, a liquid crystallayer 130 formed of a liquid crystal material filled between the firstand second substrates 110 and 120, and a sealing layer 140 for sealingthe first and second substrates 110 and 120. Here, the sealing layer 140is provided to the edge of the display area AA.

The first substrate 110 includes gate lines (not shown) and data lines(not shown) located in the display area AA and intersecting with eachother to define a plurality of pixel regions, a plurality of thin filmtransistors (not shown) disposed at intersections of the gate lines andthe data lines, a plurality of pixel electrodes (not shown) connected tothe thin film transistors, and a plurality of common electrodes CEseparated at intervals and insulated from the pixel electrodes (notshown). The pixel electrodes (not shown) respectively correspond to thepixel regions, and each common electrode CE corresponds to two or moreneighboring pixel regions.

That is, each common electrode CE corresponds to a touch area, and eachcommon electrode CE corresponds to two or more pixel regions.

A driving integrated circuit D-IC for driving signal lines including thegate lines (not shown) and the data lines (not shown) located in thedisplay area AA may be mounted on the bezel area BA of the firstsubstrate 110.

The touch electrode TE is located on and attached to the cover glass102. The touch electrode TE corresponds to the touch key area TA extendsto the display area AA to overlap with at least one common electrodeCE-e in proximity to the bezel area BA.

Accordingly, when touch is applied to the touch key area TA, theeffective capacitance seen by the common electrode CE-e via the touchelectrode TEchanges and thus the touch applied to the touch key area TAcan be sensed.

Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the first substrate 110 of thedisplay panel 101 includes: gate lines GL and data lines DL located inthe display area AA and intersecting each other; a plurality of pixelregions PA defined by the intersecting gate lines GL and data lines DLand located in the display area AA; a plurality of thin film transistorsTFT disposed at intersections of the gate lines GL and the data lines DLand respectively corresponding to the pixel regions PA; a plurality ofpixel electrodes PE respectively corresponding to the pixel regions PAand individually connected to the thin film transistors TFT; a pluralityof common electrodes CE separated at intervals, each of whichcorresponds to two or more pixel regions PA; and a plurality of touchsensing lines SL individually connected to the common electrodes CE suchthat there is a single touch sensing line connected to each commonelectrode CE.

The gate lines GL are connected to a gate driver G-DR, and the gatedriver circuit G-DR sequentially provides gate signals to the gate linesGL.

The data lines DL are connected to a data driver D-DR, and the datadriver circuit D-DR supplies data signals to the data lines DL.

The gate driver circuit G-DR, which is a relatively simple circuit, maybe embedded in the first substrate 110. The data driver circuit D-DR maybe a flexible circuit board having the data driving integrated circuitD-IC mounted therein and connected between the first substrate 110 and amain driver or may include the data driving integrated circuit D-ICmounted on the first substrate 110.

The touch sensing lines SL are connected between the common electrodesCE and a touch driver circuit (not shown). Here, the touch drivercircuit (not shown) may be provided as part of the data driver circuitD-DR for device integration. The common electrodes CE are used as bothdisplay electrodes and in-cell touch electrodes. Through the touchsensing lines SL, a common voltage for image display is applied to thecommon electrodes CE during a display period. Through the touch sensinglines SL, voltages of the common electrodes CE are delivered to thetouch driver circuit (not shown) during a touch sensing period (touchsensing period may also be referred to as a touch driving period). Thetouch driver circuit (not shown) senses a touch position by detectingwhether changes in a voltage of a common electrode CE exceed athreshold. In one embodiment, to sense touch, the touch driver drives atouch driving signal onto the common electrodes through their respectivesensing lines, and senses a touch position based on the touch drivingsignal.

While FIG. 3 illustrates the pixel electrodes PE and the commonelectrodes CE as having rectangular shapes, this shape is merely oneexample. In another example the pixel electrodes PE and/or the commonelectrodes CE may instead be formed in a pattern including at least oneslit.

The thin film transistors TFT of the pixel regions PA are turned on bygate signals of the gate lines GL, and data signals of the data lines DLare supplied to the pixel electrodes PE through the turned ontransistors TFT.

When the common voltage is applied to the common electrodes CE for adisplay period and the data signals are supplied to the pixel electrodesPE, a predetermined electric field is generated between the pixelelectrodes PE and the common electrodes CE. The electric field rotatesliquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer (130 of FIG. 2) toadjust transmissivity of the pixel regions PA.

A touch sensing method in the in-cell touch display device 100 accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described.

Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the first substrate 110 includes a lowersubstrate SUB1, a plurality of pixel electrodes PE located on the lowersubstrate SUB1, insulated from the gate lines (GL shown in FIG. 3) andthe data lines (DL shown in FIG. 3) and corresponding to a plurality ofpixel regions PA. The first substrate 110 also includes commonelectrodes CE separated from each other at certain intervals. The commonelectrode CE are located on the pixel electrodes PE and are insulatedfrom the pixel electrodes PE. Each common electrode CE corresponds totwo or more pixel regions PA.

For reference, although not illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the firstsubstrate 110 may further include gate lines (GL shown in FIG. 3), agate insulating layer (not shown) covering the gate lines GL, data lines(DL shown in FIG. 3) located on the gate insulating layer, a firstinsulating layer (not shown) covering the data lines DL, and a secondinsulating layer (not shown) insulating the pixel electrodes PEs fromthe common electrodes CE. Here, the pixel electrodes PE are located onthe first insulating layer and the common electrodes CE are located onthe second insulating layer.

The touch sensing lines (SL shown in FIG. 3) may be located on any layerso long as the touch sensing lines are insulated from the gate lines GLand the data lines DL. For example, the touch sensing lines SL may belocated on the second insulating layer along with the common electrodesCE.

In addition, the thin film transistors (TFT shown in FIG. 3) may haveany of a top gate structure and a bottom gate structure.

Although not illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4A and 4B, when the thin filmtransistor TFT has the bottom gate structure, the thin film transistorTFT may include a gate electrode formed on the lower substrate SUB1, asemiconductor layer formed on a gate insulating layer, a sourceelectrode and a drain electrode disposed on the gate insulating layerand contacting either sides of the semiconductor layer.

The second substrate 120 includes an upper substrate SUB2, a colorfilter CF located on one side of the upper substrate SUB2 and emittinglights of colors (red, green, blue and white) R, G, B and W respectivelycorresponding to the pixel regions PA, and a black matrix BM provided toone side of the upper substrate SUB2 and corresponding to the edge ofeach pixel region PA. While FIG. 4A illustrates that the color filter CFemits red, green, blue and white light, the color filter CF mayalternatively emit red, green and blue light.

The cover glass 102 is provided to the other side of the upper substrateSUB2.

As shown in FIG. 4A, when touch is not applied, the voltage of a commonelectrode CE is affected by capacitance Cg between the common electrodeCE and a corresponding gate line (GL shown in FIG. 3) on the lowersubstrate SUB 1, capacitance Cd between the common electrode CE and acorresponding pixel electrode PE, and capacitance Cts between the commonelectrode CE and a neighboring common electrode CE. That is, the voltageof the common electrode CE changes according to a combination ofcapacitances Cg, Cd and Cts between the gate lines GL and the commonelectrode CE, between the pixel electrode PE and the common electrode CEand between the neighboring common electrodes CE.

Referring to FIG. 4B, when a predetermined point of the cover glass 102corresponding to the display area AA is touched by an external element(e.g., a finger) 300, capacitance Cf is generated between the externalelement (e.g., a finger) 300 and a corresponding common electrode CE.Accordingly, the voltage of the common electrode CE is further affectedby the capacitance Cf between the external element 300 generating touchand the common electrode CE.

That is, the voltage of the common electrode CE changes according to acombination of capacitances Cg, Cd, Cts, and Cf, which include thecapacitance Cf between the external element 300 and the common electrodeCE. Accordingly, the touch position can be recognized by detecting theposition at which changes in the voltage of the common electrode CE aregreater than a threshold. The changes in the voltage correspond to thecapacitance Cf between the external element 300 and the common electrodeCE.

Referring to FIG. 5A, when the touch is not applied to the touch keyarea TA, the voltage of the common electrode CE-e neighboring the bezelarea BA and overlapping with the touch electrode TE is affected by acombination of capacitances Cg, Cd, and Cts, which includes capacitancesbetween the common electrode CE-e and a corresponding gate line (GLshown in FIG. 3), between the common electrode CE-e and a correspondingpixel electrode PE and between the common electrode CE-e and aneighboring common electrode CE, like other common electrodes CE in thedisplay area AA. In addition, the voltage of the common electrode CE-eoverlapping with the touch electrode TE is further affected bycapacitance Cbt between the common electrode CE-e and the touchelectrode TE. That is, the voltage of the common electrode CE-e changesaccording to a combination of capacitances Cg, Cd, Cts, and Cbt, whichinclude capacitances between the common electrode CE-e and the gate lineGL, between the common electrode CE-e and the pixel electrode PE,between the common electrode CE-e and the neighboring common electrodeCE and between the common electrode CE-e and the touch electrode TE.

Referring to FIG. 5B, when the touch key area TA is touched by theexternal element 300, capacitance Cbf between the external element 300and the touch electrode TE is generated. Cbf is in series with Cbt, andthus the effective capacitance seen through Cbt changes. That is, thevoltage of the common electrode CE-e overlapping with the touchelectrode TE changes according to a combination of capacitances Cg, Cd,Cts, Cbt, and Cbf, which further includes the capacitance Cbf betweenthe external element 300 and the touch electrode TE. Accordingly, it maybe possible to recognize whether touch is applied to the touch key areaTA by detecting whether changes in the voltage of the common electrodeCE-e overlapping with the touch electrode TE are greater than athreshold. The changes in the voltage correspond to a combination of thecapacitances Cg, Cd, Cts, Cbt and Cbf.

Although FIGS. 4A to 5B illustrate that common electrode CE is locatedabove the pixel electrode PE, the common electrode CE may be locatedbelow the pixel electrode PE, or the common electrode CE and the pixelelectrode PE may be located on the same layer.

As described above, the in-cell touch display device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure includes the touch electrode TEwhich corresponds to at least one touch key area TA located in the bezelarea BA and extends into the display area to overlap the outermostcommon electrode CE-e of the display panel 101. Accordingly, when thetouch key area TA is touched by the external element 300, capacitanceCbf between the external element 300 and the touch electrode TE changes,and thus the effective capacitance seen through Cbt changes. Therefore,whether the touch key area TA is touched can be sensed through variationin the voltage of the common electrode CE-e.

Since whether the touch key area TA is touched can be sensed using thecommon electrode CE-e for realizing in-cell touch, there is no need toarrange an additional touch panel and an additional touch drivingcircuit in the bezel area BA while using part of the bezel area BA as abutton key for sensing touch. Accordingly, the width of the bezel areaBA can be reduced, the display device 100 can become slimmer andusefulness of the bezel area BA can be enhanced.

FIGS. 2, 5A and 5B illustrate the touch key area TA located in a part ofthe bezel area BA, which corresponds to the lower end of the displayarea AA and a region in which the driving integrated circuit D-IC ismounted. However, as described above with reference to FIG. 1, the touchkey area TA may be located in a part of the bezel area BA, whichcorresponds to the left or right end of the display area AA.

Referring to FIG. 6, the touch key area TA may be located in a part ofthe bezel area BA, which corresponds to the left end of the display areaAA. In this case, the touch electrode TE is located on the cover glass102, corresponding to the touch key area TA, and extends to the displayarea AA to overlap the at least one common electrode CE-e neighboringthe bezel area BA, as in FIGS. 5A and 5B.

In addition, the in-cell touch display device 100 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure may further include first, secondand third printed layers P1, P2 and P3 located on the cover glass 102and corresponding to the bezel area BA and a passivation layer PAScovering the touch electrode TE.

Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, an in-cell touch display device 100 aaccording to a first example includes the first printed layer P1 locatedon the cover glass 102 and corresponding to the bezel area BA, thesecond printed layer P2 located on the first printed layer P1 and thecover glass 102, the third printed layer P3 disposed on the first andsecond printed layers P1 and P2, the touch electrode TE positioned onthe third printed layer P3, and the passivation layer PAS covering thetouch electrode TE.

The first printed layer P1 causes the bezel area BA to have apredetermined color to improve aesthetics of the display device 100 a.

The second printed layer P2 corresponds to the touch key area TA andincludes printed letters describing the use of the touch key area TA.

The third printed layer P3 is used to make the color of the bezel areaBA clear, like the first printed layer P1.

As described above, the in-cell touch display device 100 a according tothe first example includes the first, second and third printed layersP1, P2 and P3 located on the side of the cover glass 102, facing thedisplay panel 101, the touch electrode TE positioned on the thirdprinted layer P3 and the passivation layer PAS covering the touchelectrode TE.

Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, an in-cell touch display device 100 baccording to a second example includes the first, second and thirdprinted layers P1, P2 and P3 located on the side of the cover glass 102,facing the display panel 101, the touch electrode TE positioned on theother side of the cover glass 102 facing away from the display panel,and the passivation layer PAS covering the touch electrode TE. That is,the in-cell touch display device 100 b according to the second exampleis the same as the first example except that the touch electrode TE andthe passivation layer PAS are located on the other side of the coverglass 102, which is exposed to the outside.

In this case, the distance between the external element (300 shown inFIG. 5b , e.g., a finger) generating touch applied to the touch key areaTA and the touch electrode TE is decreased compared to the firstexample, and thus touch applied to the touch key area TA may be sensedwith higher sensitivity.

Referring to FIG. 9, an in-cell touch display device 100 c according toa third second example is the same as the first example illustrated inFIG. 7A except that the common electrode CE-e neighboring the bezel areaBA and overlapping the touch electrode TE is extended into the bezelarea BA and overlaps the sealing layer 140. In this case, it may bepossible to increase the overlapping width of the touch electrode TE andthe common electrode CE-e without increasing the width of the bezel areaBA, and thus touch applied to the touch key area TA may be sensed withhigher sensitivity.

Referring to FIG. 10, an in-cell touch display device 100 d according toa fourth example includes the touch electrode TE disposed on one side ofthe cover glass 102, the passivation layer PAS covering the touchelectrode TE, and the first, second and third printed layers P1, P2 andP3 located on the passivation layer PAS. That is, the in-cell touchdisplay device 100 d according to the fourth example is the same as thein-cell touch display apparatus 100 a according to the first exampleillustrated in FIG. 7A except that the touch electrode TE and thepassivation layer PAS are located between the cover glass 102 and thefirst printed layer P1 without being disposed on the third printed layerP3.

In this case, the distance between the external element (300 shown inFIG. 5b , e.g., a finger) generating touch applied to the touch key areaTA and the touch electrode TE is decreased compared to the firstexample, and thus touch applied to the touch key area TA can be sensedwith higher sensitivity. In addition, the touch electrode TE can beprevented from being damaged because the touch electrode TE is notexposed to the outside.

In one embodiment, the display 100 may be manufactured by forming acover glass panel from the printed layers P1-P3, touch electrode TE,passivation layer PAS and cover glass 102. This cover glass panel isthen attached to the display panel 101 with the adhesive layer 103. Insome embodiments, a non-glass cover may be used in place of the coverglass 102.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure maybe carried out in other specific ways than those set forth hereinwithout departing from the spirit and characteristics of the presentdisclosure. The above embodiments are therefore to be construed in allaspects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the disclosureshould be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents,not by the above description, and all changes coming within the meaningand equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embracedtherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. An in-cell touch display device comprising: adisplay panel including first and second substrates attached to eachother and opposite each other, gate lines and data lines located on thefirst substrate and intersecting to define a plurality of pixel regionsin a display area, a plurality of common electrodes each correspondingto two or more neighboring pixel regions, and a plurality of sensinglines connected to the common electrodes; a cover located on the displaypanel; and at least one touch electrode on the cover, corresponding toone or more touch key areas separated at intervals in a bezel areasurrounding the display area, the at least one touch electrode extendingto the display area and overlapping in the display area with a commonelectrode neighboring the touch key area from amongst the plurality ofcommon electrodes.
 2. The in-cell touch display device according toclaim 1, further comprising a driving integrated circuit located in thebezel area on the first substrate and driving the gate lines and/or thedata lines, wherein the one or more touch key areas are located in apart of the bezel area corresponding to the driving integrated circuit.3. The in-cell touch display device according to claim 2, wherein theone or more touch key areas are located in a part of the bezel areacorresponding to at least one of left and right ends of the displayarea.
 4. The in-cell touch display device according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a first printed layer located on a side of the cover facingthe display panel, the first printed layer located in the bezel area; asecond printed layer located on the cover and the first printed layerand corresponding to the touch key areas; and a third printed layerlocated on the first and second printed layers.
 5. The in-cell touchdisplay device according to claim 4, wherein the touch electrode islocated on the third printed layer, the in-cell touch display devicefurther comprising a passivation layer covering the third printed layerand the touch electrode.
 6. The in-cell touch display device accordingto claim 4, wherein the touch electrode is located on an other side ofthe cover facing away from the display panel, the in-cell touch displaydevice further comprising a passivation layer located on the other sideof the cover and covering the touch electrode.
 7. The in-cell touchdisplay device according to claim 4, wherein the touch electrode isarranged on the side of the cover facing the display panel, the in-celltouch display device further comprising a passivation layer covering thetouch electrode, wherein the touch electrode and the passivation layerare arranged between the side of the cover and the first and secondprinted layers.
 8. The in-cell touch display device according to claim1, wherein the display panel further includes a liquid crystal layerinterposed between the first and second substrates and a sealing layersealing the first and second substrates and located at an edge of thedisplay area, wherein the at least one common electrode extends into thebezel area and overlaps the sealing layer.
 9. A touch display devicecomprising: a display panel having a plurality of common electrodesconnected to sensing lines and provided with a common voltage via thesensing lines, each common electrode corresponding to a respectiveplurality of pixel regions in a display area; and a touch electrodecorresponding to a touch key area in a bezel area surrounding thedisplay area, the touch electrode extending into the display area andoverlapping with a common electrode of the common electrodes.
 10. Thetouch display device according to claim 9, further comprising a drivingintegrated circuit located in the bezel area and driving gate linesand/or data lines of the display panel, wherein the touch key area islocated in a part of the bezel area corresponding to the drivingintegrated circuit.
 11. The touch display device according to claim 9,wherein the touch key area is located in a part of the bezel areacorresponding to one of left and right ends of the display area.
 12. Thetouch display device according to claim 9, further comprising a cover onthe display panel, the touch electrode located on the cover.
 13. Thetouch display device according to claim 12, further comprising: a firstprinted layer located on a side of the cover facing the display panel,the first printed layer located in the bezel area; a second printedlayer located on the cover and the first printed layer and correspondingto the touch key area; and a third printed layer located on the firstand second printed layers.
 14. The touch display device according toclaim 13, wherein the touch electrode is located on the third printedlayer, the touch display device further comprising a passivation layercovering the third printed layer and the touch electrode.
 15. The touchdisplay device according to claim 13, wherein the touch electrode islocated on an other side of the cover facing away from the displaypanel, the touch display device further comprising a passivation layerlocated on the other side of the cover and covering the touch electrode.16. The touch display device according to claim 13, wherein the touchelectrode is located on the side of the cover facing the display panel,the touch display device further comprising a passivation layer coveringthe touch electrode, wherein the touch electrode and the passivationlayer are located between the side of the cover and the first and secondprinted layers.
 17. The touch display device according to claim 9,wherein the display panel further includes a liquid crystal layerinterposed between first and second substrates and a sealing layersealing the first and second substrates and located at an edge of thedisplay area, wherein the common electrode extends into the bezel areaand overlaps the sealing layer.
 18. The touch display device accordingto claim 9, further comprising: another touch electrode corresponding toanother touch key area in the bezel area surrounding the display area,the another touch electrode extending into the display area andoverlapping with another common electrode of the common electrodes. 19.The touch display device according to claim 9, further comprising: atouch driving circuit coupled to the sensing lines.
 20. The touchdisplay device according to claim 9, further comprising: a cover panelattached to the display panel with an adhesive, the cover panelincluding the touch electrode that corresponds to the touch key area inthe bezel area.